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Guatemala’s economic history has been defined by corruption, instability and broad social inequality. In that context, Rigoberta Menchu received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in promoting indigenous rights in the country. There are now other unnoticed social changers: entrepreneurs who see hope in technology as a tool to overcome social divides, as one local entrepreneur told the New York Times.

It has been two years this week since the Kauffman Foundation took extensive research and data analysis around new firm formation, crafted a single document, and labeled it “The Startup Act.” Renaming the conversation that PDE had started earlier around how policymakers can make it easier for startups to emerge, create jobs and grow, was very effective in getting policymakers in Washington to take a look at entrepreneurship through the lens of helping new and young firms. But how far has America come in getting something done on their behalf?

America needs all the talent it can get at home to spur job creation and economic growth. Recently, we have given a lot of attention to the untapped potential of immigrant entrepreneurs. Today, I take a look at other data and ask what we can do to enable more women in America to achieve their full potential as entrepreneurs.

With all the chatter around the Middle East, we welcome a guest post from Mike Ducker. Over the last two years, he has been the Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the U.S. State Department's Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) in Egypt, a project funded by USAID and centered on starting, growing and facilitating financing for Egyptian entrepreneurs. His observations show once more the remarkable similarities around the world in terms of how to support startups.

Today marks a new era in entrepreneurial finance as the measure in the 2012 JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups Act) allowing “emerging growth” companies to ask accredited investors for equity investments publicly (e.g., through social media) without having to register the shares for public trading goes into effect.

Being born in Britain might explain my bias, but I find myself asking again whether we have overlooked the important leadership role of royalty in providing help from the top for bottom-up startup communities. I recently spoke with the Prince of Wales at St. James Palace in London and while he is from a different generation, I heard a man with his heart and mind fully in step with today’s unemployed youth and the path they must beat to create their own future as entrepreneurs.

Following last week’s comments on the Global Entrepreneurship Research Network, I offer a second and final post on matters arising from the government-convened entrepreneurship summit in Kuala Lumpur. The roundtable discussion among “startup policy” experts on October 12 signaled a new chapter in knowledge creation around how governments can better enable their startup communities.

In my final post of 2013, I summarize my top of mind developments in the world’s entrepreneurship data chest. Next year will herald a new era in evidence-based programming and policymaking as practitioners and policymakers alike—now committed to new firm formation—demand better data and analysis around what entrepreneurship promotion efforts are working and what is hype.

I know few of you plan to comb through entrepreneurship data and analysis over the holidays but the following summary might be helpful to all of us as we embark upon a renewed effort in 2014 to fill the gaps in what we can tell those who are eager to help founders start and scale new firms. This list is by no means comprehensive but rather what was most visible to me as a global observer and commentator. Please let me know what I missed.

December is here already, but some policymakers in the U.S. are not ready to end the year with entrepreneurship-enabling legislation on the back burner. Taking an “across-all-industries” approach, the Start-up Jobs and Innovation Act introduced last month in the Senate aims to stimulate investment in research-intensive startups.

While we are seeing more attention to addressing the paucity of useful national entrepreneurship data globally, efforts to develop comparable city-level information have been less of a focus with only a handful of global city rankings. How are city leaders now moving beyond dated “cluster and technology park” thinking to appeal to entrepreneurs and investors?

A network of U.S. cities facilitating a weekly entrepreneur education program. Go to 1 Million Cups >

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